Sheet-sampling mechanism



June 1958 L. B. CUNDIFF ETAL SHEET-SAMPLING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed April 28, 1955 June 3, 1958 L. B. CUNDIFF ET AL 3 SHEET-SAMPLINGMECHANISM Filed April 28, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States PatentSHEET-SAMPLING MECHANISM Lester- B. Cundilf, Wilmington, Del., andWilliam M.

Watts, Fredericksburg, Va., assignors to American Viscose Corporation,Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application April 28, 1955,Serial No. 504,422

8 Claims. (Cl. 164-36) This invention relates to mechanism for obtaininga sample from a running web of sheet material and, more particularly, toa device for removing a narrow strip from a running plastic sheetmaterial such as cellophane which strip may be used for testing and.analysis purposes.-

For the purpose of obtaining samples of a running web of sheet materialsuch as cellophane or other synthetic plastic, it has been necessary tostop the machine or to cut the sample from one of the edges of thesheet. This was done either with a knife or with a tool of the type.disclosed in Vollrath U. S- Patents 2,333,964 and 2,374,847[ The obviousdisadvantage of such a procedure is that the sheetis weakened seriouslyand it is difficult to obtain the sample without completely rupturingthe sheet. Also, it is extremely difiicult, if notimpossible, to obtainas'ample near the center of the running sheet using the prior arttechnique and apparatus.

The present invention has for its primary object the provision of asampling toolwhich can be positioned at any point across the width ofthe running web and'whi'ch ice Figure 8 is a top view on a reduced scaleof the flattened sample obtained with the manual device of Figure 6; and

Figure 9 is a top view of the flattened sample as obtained with thedevice of Figures l-4.

The invention comprises essentially the provision of a pair ofcooperating cutting blades which are held either manually or supportedon a web-handling. machine in such a way that the blades may be movedlaterally toward and away from each other. A take-up roll having anadhesive coating is positioned. adjacent the point at which the bladesout two parallel slits in the web so that the sample, as defined by theslits, is picked up and collected on the roll. In effect, the movementof the blades with respect to each other is manually controlled in boththe embodiments illustrated herewith. In the one case, manual actuationand control of the blades is achieved by pressure, as exerted by anoperator, upon apair of connected pivoted handles having the form ofcertain types of scissors or grass clippers. In the other form, theoperator turns a crank on a threaded shaft to control and actuate theblade movement.

extracts a strip of sheet material leaving clean forward I p andtrailing slot termini in the running sheet.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sample-obtaining tool.for a running web of sheet material comprising a pair of blades whichmove relative to one another and a take-up roller positioned adjacentthe blades.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method forobtaining a sample from a running web of sheet material.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a manual toolhaving a pair of laterally movable blades and. a supported take-uproller. A still further object of the invention is to provide anattachment for a web-handling machine such as. a drier for obtainingsamples of the web at predetermined laterally spaced positions acrossthe web width.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from a'study of thespecification and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of .a cellophane drier havingattached thereto the sampling device of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top view of the structure of Figure'l (with certain partsbroken away and the manual adjusting wheel added) showing one samplingassembly in full cutting position and another sampling assembly in theinitial slitting position;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional detail as seen at IIIIII of Figure 2;

I Figure 4 is a fragmentary top view of the blade holder of Figure 3;

FigureS is a. perspective showing the operation of" the take-up rollerfor the web sample;

Figure 6 is a perspective showing a modified form of the invention; p

Figure 7' is a bottom vie-wot the handle andv blade actuating structureof the sampler (if-Figured; e

The method includes the steps of initially positioning the blades sothat they are closely spaced together with a clearance therebetweenofapproximately one-sixteenth of an inch. The blades are then insertedinto the running sheet to form two very closely spaced slits in therunning web. Manual actuation of the handle or. crank moves the bladesaway from each other to the desired width of the sample. The blades areretained in the spaced relation until the desired length of the samplehas been cut whereupon the blades are then moved together to taper 01fthe trailing edge of the sample so that it automaticah ly tears out whenthis narrow tapered end reaches a sample take-up roller. The take-uproller is. positioned just downstream. of the blades and may haveanadhesive surface to assist in picking up the sampler "Depending uponcircumstances, it may be necessary to manually break off the leadingedge ofthe sample- If the leading edge is sufficiently thin, theadhesive on the roll will naturally pick it up. Under othercircumstances, it has been found desirable to use a slightly widerinitial spacing for the blades in which event the operator merelyreaches over and punches out the leading edge of the sample whereupon itis then automatically picked up" by the roller.

, as it is collected on roller 15.

Referring now to the drawings, the upper frame of a cellophane drier isshown fragmentarily at 10 and 11 Figures 1 and 2). The rolls 12 and 13are journaled in the framework and control the travel of the cellophanesheet S just after leaving the drier and prior; to wind-up on the millroll'. Sheet S passes under roll 12and over roll 13. Brackets 14 whichsupport roll13 extend upwardly and also support sample pick-up roller 15loosely journaled in slot 16 whereby the sample is free to buildup Across shaft 20 is journaled in upright standards 21, 21 and is keyed toa bracket 22 having an extension 23 which cooperates with a; latch 24 sothat the cutter assembly may be retained in a pivoteddisengagedposition. Alternatively the latch 24 may be dispensed with and thecutter assembly pivoted through an arc of approximately 180' to keep itout of the way. A threaded shaft 30 is journaled in brackets 22, 31-, 32and 33 and is axially retained therein by means of a thrust collar 34and the hub of hand wheel 35. Brackets 22 and 33 are relativelypermanently keyed and clamped to shaft 20. Brackets 3). The blades areadjustable with respect to the brackets by means of a universal typemounting controllable by the nuts 43, 43. Threaded portions 44, 44 ofshaft 30 are secured thereto by means of clamps 45, 45 and cooperatinginternal threads onbrackets 36 and 37are-so arranged that when shaft 30is turned by means of hand wheel 35 the brackets 36 and 37 slide alongshaft 20 to control thelateral spacingbetween the pairs of blades onthetips of the brackets. The righthand pair of blades on brackets 31 and37 (Figure 2) are'shown adjusted for initial rupture of the running web.The blades are biased with respect to each other so that they form aslight V relationship when viewed both from the top and from the end.

In operation, the blades are adjusted to the starting position as shownby the position of brackets 31 and 37. This is done with shaft 30 raisedand preferably retained by means of latch 24. With the correct initialclearance setting between each pair of bladeswhich should be on theorder of one-sixteenth of an inch, shaft 30'is lowered by pivoting theapparatus on shaft 20 until the assembly rests adjacent adjustable stop'46. Assoon as the blades have penetrated the web,

'the sample between the slits will be picked up by the adhesive portions47 onroller .15 either because the cohesionis sufiicient to break thevery narrow piece between, theleading edge of the sample and the.remainder of the web or because this initial severing has beenperformedmanually by the'operator. Soon after the initial .formation ofthe slits with the blades spaced close together, the operator turns handwheel- 35 to widen the spacing to the position of theblades on brackets32 and 36. The sample then builds up on roll '15 as shown in Figure 5.When suflicient sample has been obtained, the operator turns hand wheel35 in the opposite direction to narrow the spacing between the blades,thus forming the trailing edge 48 which will be allochiral to theleading edge 49 of the sample (Figure 9). The blades are then raisedmanually or otherwise and latched in a disengaged-position in readinessfor taking the nextsample- It will be understood that the pairs ofblades may be spaced laterally in any de sired number or' locationacross the shafts 20 and 30. Samplesv may be taken near the edge ornear-the middle and the-numberand width of samples may be increased asdesired so long as the sheet is not weakenedto the point that it willrupture.

Referring nowto Figures 6 and 7, a manual sampling tool comprises aframework 50 having a sample-collecting roller 51 journaled at one end,a handle 52 attached to theframework and a secondary lever or handle 53pivoted on the assembly so that squeezing of the handle 53 againsthandle 52 actuates theblade holders 54 and 55 towards and away from eachother by means of bell cranks 56, 56. One arm of each crank is locatedto be controlled by a downwardly projecting lug 57 on handle 53 (Figure7), and an adjustable limit stop 58 controls the maximum separateddistance for the blades59 and 60- in the blade holders 54 and 55. Theblade holders are suitably spring loaded at 61 to the closed or closelyspaced position. Sinceboth blade holders 54 and 55 pivot with respect tothe frame, the sample obtained with the manual device shown in Figure 6will have twov points substantially midway between the edges as shown inFigure 8. Otherwise, the method of procedure and actuation of the bladesis substantially as described in connection with the device of Figuresl-5.

We have therefore described a running web sampler for sheet materialsand especially cellophane which is simple, foolproof and whichinvariably obtains excellent samples which may be used for various testswithout damaging the web.

We claim: a

1. A sampler for traveling sheel material comprising a support, a pairof slitting blade holders secu ed E9 th support, a slitting blademounted in each blade holder, means connected with the blade holders formoving at least one of the blade holders laterally toward and away fromthe other blade holder, said blade moving means being capable ofoperation both before and after the slitting blades pierce the travelingsheet material, and a take-up roller supported adjacent the slittingblades, said roller having an adhesive surface to pick up the samplebetween the slits formed by the blades.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which both of the bladeholders are capable of movement on the support.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which one of the bladeholders is relatively fixed on the support, and the otherblade holder ismovable with respect thereto.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the blades are biasedin two planes with respect to each other.

5. A sampler for traveling sheet material comprising a support, a pairof slitting blade holders secured to the support, a slitting blademounted on each blade holder, manually controlled means connected withthe blade holders for moving at least one of the blade holders laterallytowards the other blade holder, said blade moving means being'capable ofoperation both before and after the blades pierce the traveling sheetmaterial, anda take-up roller supported adjacent the trailing edges ofsaid blades, said roller having an adhesive surface, said roller havinga' sheet material attracting surface. 6. A sampler for traveling sheetmaterial and the like comprising .a pair of slitting blade holdersmounted on a shaft so mounted that it extends transversely across thetraveling sheet material, a slitting blade mounted in each holder, meansfor rotating said shaft to move the blade holders from an inoperativeposition to a slitting position in the sheet material, a second shaftcooperat ing with at least one of the blade, holders, means for movingsaid second shaft to control the lateral spacing of the blade holderswith respect to each other, said blade holder moving means being capableof operation both before and after the blades have pierced the travelingsheet material, and a sheet material take-up roller mounted adjacent theslitting blades, said roller having an adhesive surface. 7. The methodof obtaining a sample from a traveling sheet material which comprisesthe steps of initially and simultaneously forming two closely spacedslits insaid traveling sheet material at spaced distances from eitherlongitudinal edge of the material and from a substantially fixed pointalong the pathfof the material, directing the slits from the fixed pointoutwardly in opposite directions toward the longitudinal edges of thetraveling sheet material to enlarge the spacing between. the slits,removing the strip of sample sheet material between the slits at saidfixed point along the sheet material path, directing the slits in the.sheet material from the. fixed point inwardly toward each other tonarrow the spacing between the slits, and severing the sheet materialsample from the traveling sheet material, said above steps beingcompleted while maintaining intact the sheet edges.

8. The method of claim 7 including the step of manuallysevering theleading edge of the sample of the sheet material.

75 relied on.; Photostatedcopy in Div. 53.

